In an advanced step, a qualitative shift in flood predictions, climate risk planning and water resources management can constitute a team of researchers at Oxford University a map that differs from previous world rivers maps, can be considered the most complete ever.
It is presented the study The new, which was published in the Water Resources Reservation patrol, a new maps drawing system showing how rivers flow, branch and interconnection between the landscape.
Disadvantages of old maps
At a time when rivers are one of the most important pillars of life, they also constitute increasing risks, due to climate changes that led to irregular rainfall and high sea levels, where the frequency of floods and their severity is expected to increase in many parts of the world, and for this, according to the Oxford University statement, the current global rivers maps are old and very simplified, as they assume that the rivers flow in one direction and are not divided never
“Flood models have assumed the previous global rivers, (for countries or continents of the entire world), said that rivers will only join their flow towards the course of the river,” says Dr. Michelle and Rustman, who developed the “International River Topology” program at Oxford University, in exclusive statements to Al -Jazeera Net.
“This map neglected the path of rivers and the feature of the river division,” he added, as many large rivers are divided when they flow towards the course of the river, either into different channels, or multiple arms in the delta, or human -made channels, and for this our river network picks up these divided or branching rivers, which enables flood models and early warning systems of rivers to represent them Frequently.
And he says Statement A journalist from Oxford University, “These branching rivers systems are important because they are often found in populated and vulnerable areas, and they are necessary to understand the movement of water across the surface of the earth.”
To address these shortcomings in the current rivers’ maps used to manage water and predicting floods, the scientific team at Oxford University has developed a new global network of rivers called “global rivers”, which includes the flow of these branched rivers and large channels, and their interdependence, thus complexing them.
Global rivers lymphology
The statement issued by the University of Oxford says that the global network of international rivers, was established by combining high -resolution satellite images of rivers and advanced altitudes of the Earth’s surface.
According to the study, the network shows all the rivers that are more than 30 meters wide, in addition to the parts of the river, in addition to the network of multiple strands on a regional scale in 7 selected regions of the world, such as the Fraser River, the Amazon River, the Rhine-Mis River, the Congo River, the Badma-Brahamabutra, the Mekong River, and the Pearl River.
This network not only includes the basic rivers channels, but also provides information on the trends of river flow, their display and division points, as the total length of the global network map is 19.6 million km, and includes 67 thousand complexes.
“We needed a global map that reflects the behavior of actual rivers, as it is not enough to assume that rivers descend in a straight line, especially when we try to predict the floods, understand environmental systems, or plan climate effects, and therefore this map shows the rivers of the world with all its complications,” says Dr. Michel and Rustman.
On the Arab rivers included in the map of the new world rivers, Michel Rochd says in his statements to Al -Jazeera Net: “Yes, the map of our network includes all the rivers of the world whose drainage area is more than 50 square kilometers. It is represented in the previous rivers.
Features and aspirations
According to the University of Oxford’s statement, rivers are vital to environmental systems and human life, but with the increase in weather extremism due to climate change, they are increasingly dangerous – especially during floods.
To prepare, scientists and governments need to understand where the water is likely to turn widely, and therefore it is expected that the global river bouquet network will improve, in a great way in the areas of water, environment, geomorphology and flood management, and it can also be a major step forward in the field of flood prediction and adaptation to climate change.
The new river network system provides a more comprehensive vision of water movement, which helps to improve flood models, water management systems, and disaster planning, in addition to that, the new network system supports the development of international data -based models (artificial intelligence) of floods, droughts, water quality, maintenance, environmental risks, and represents a jump forward.
“Our network system also uses satellite images of rivers, this enables him to show the nature of complex rivers, and how they branch through the landscape, and it also allows us to include multiple channels of the river itself, or large channels related to rivers, or the branches of multiple rivers in the delta, as is the case in the Nile Delta.”
On the other hand, Louise Slater, a professor of water climate at Oxford University, said: “The new rivers system is designed to develop due to being a fully mechanism, unlike previous global networks, we can constantly update them with the latest satellite and topographical data, to understand changes in rivers and landscapes.”